Columns

Up Front Lahaina

October 14, 2010

... Well, the end of October is approaching — with Halloween and the General Election, the town is heating up...

... Plans for a teen event sponsored by LAHAINATOWN ACTION COMMITTEE are well under way with great costume prizes coming forward. The Fright Night event will be held at 744 Front St. — the old Lahaina Store oyster bar location...

... then a couple of days later, the General Election will be held. It’s a nail-biter on a couple of fronts and a foregone conclusion on the rest...

... and the next phase of the LAHAINA BYPASS is under way and on schedule — yeah!!...

... and across the pond, bad news from Hungary — another infrastructure nightmare with the red sludge dam break. But with the latest report that the rest of the dam is about to go, the blue Danube will be blue no more. Actually it never was blue but a muddy brown, but the Danube is the pride and joy of Central Europe...

... and other news from “ova there” is the computer worm that has invaded Iran’s nuclear facilities. Now I wonder how that could have happened! And what a brilliant idea, just so long as it stays “ova there!”...

... I was interested to read the story of the search for remains of missing World War II soldiers from the battle of Tarawa in Kiribati (pronounced Kiribas). Some years ago while visiting Tarawa, I was walking along the beach when a human skull cap washed up at my feet. Not knowing what to do — whether it was ours or theirs — we took it back to where we were staying and buried it...

... another story of Tarawa is Big Bertha, a World War I huge gun — the largest ever built — sitting there pointing out to sea. The gun was built in Manchester, England, in 1912 but saw little action in France. After the war, around the early 1930s, it was shipped to Singapore (with World War II on the horizon) and installed there pointing out to sea to battle a Japanese invasion. But the Japanese came down the Malay Peninsula and overtook Singapore — again, the gun never fired a shot. The Japanese then shipped the gun to the South Pacific to join in that war, and Big Bertha was erected in Tarawa pointing out to sea. The Japanese never dreamed that the Allies would try and land on the coral-encrusted back shore of the island... but they did. It was an all-out slaughter as the Japanese mowed down the Marines as they struggled to land. They eventually reached the beach and captured the island, with appalling losses on both sides. Again, Big Bertha never fired a shot. I would assume that it is still there pointing out to sea!...

... back in our neck of the woods, as of this writing, no word on whether Front Street will be closed for Halloween. So far, it will only be officially closed for the Rotary and Soroptimist Keiki Parade...

... and the winner of LahainaTown Action Committee and Lahaina Arts Society’s 2011 Poster Contest sold for its asking price of $6,000 to a Mainland buyer — the image will be available as a poster in about another month. I will be first in line to purchase one! They will be available at the Visitors Center in the Old Lahaina Courthouse and in LAS’ Old Jail Galley below...

... speaking of which, stop by the courthouse and see the new upgrades — the new ohia floor throughout sparkles!...

... and congratulations to the LAHAINALUNA HIGH SCHOOL Football Team for the winning the Interscholastic League Division II title with their very first varsity game at the Imu. Way to go, guys!!...

... and farewell and God speed to retired Lahainaluna Headmaster Michael Nakano. Much loved and will be much missed...

Up Front Lahaina is a twice monthly feature. To protect his innocence, the writer chooses to remain anonymous. The views expressed in this column belong to the author, and do not necessarily represent the views of the Lahaina News staff and owners.